I'm an LA-based writer and management consultant. I was an adviser and editor for many years for the father of modern leadership studies, the late USC professor Warren Bennis. And over the past twenty years, I’ve been a chief storyteller for USC, during a time in which Bennis and other leaders helped it skyrocket in global reputation and productivity. I bring a different perspective to leadership--some sober perspective about the realities of being "in charge," along with advice on how to tell great stories that mobilize great communities. I've written for dozens of publications around the world, including the Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor and Japan Times. I serve as a University Fellow at USC’s Center for Public Diplomacy and am a member of the Pacific Council for International Policy. My book Leadership Is Hell (Figueroa Press, 2014) is available on Amazon; all proceeds benefit programs that make college accessible to promising LA urban schoolchildren.

A Spring Cleaning For Your Career: Toss Out These 5 Excuses Today

The spring cleaning is a tradition that dates back centuries. After a cold and musty winter spent indoors, it’s been the only way to go for generations of people living in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.

The concept of a spring cleaning can also be a valuable one for our careers, especially since we’ve managed by now to forget our New Year’s resolutions.

Let’s take a look at five of the most common career excuses, along with some expert guidance on how to toss them out and replace them with a worthier set of goals.

Excuse 1:“I can’t get them to listen”

You and I seem to spend our days futilely casting pearls before swine, don’t we? Well, perhaps we, not the piggies, need the attitude adjustment. “Believing that your customer, colleagues, or client just needs to wake up and pay better attention is the excuse that keeps us from ever becoming highly influential leaders,” says workplace psychologist Marcus Dayoff.

The Fix: Dayhoff says that your goal in such a situation isn’t to pass blame but rather dig deeper. “When you find that others aren’t resonating with your ideas or product or service, it’s time to ask why,” he says. “You are the one who will need to change, not them.”

A major side benefit is that you can stop assigning blame and keep trying to find better ways to connect, you’ll make huge leaps forward in your ability to sell an idea in all kinds of settings to all kinds of persons. And that’s frankly what our economy is all about today anyway—selling ideas.

Excuse 2: “I dunno what to do next”

Change frightens adults the way monsters scare children, and we squander too much time waiting for the fright to go away—or we lock up, unable to decide on which way to run to safety.

Workplace psychologist Bill Dyment, who with Dayhoff co-wrote Fire Your Excuses, says that this paralysis is common at both the individual level and the organizational level. “This excuse is most often used by people in career transition or those who’ve stagnated in their career, or who can’t seem to get their dream project of the ground,” he tells me.

The Fix: “Recognize what’s happening,” Dyment says, “and believe that free help is readily available [for example, online] … and reach out to forums, podcasts, associations and experts who can help you identify the next steps.”

Excuse 3: “I don’t have the money or time to go in a new direction right now”

Many of us spend a pretty penny or hours of time on gym memberships and exercise boot-camps. It doesn’t occur to us to invest that same kind of attention on our careers. [The irony is that the reason we need to go to the gym is because we spend most of our waking ours in a boring or sedentary career.]

“It’s easy to be penny-wise and dollar-foolish when it comes to our own development,” says Dayhoff. He adds that just as many companies are cutting back on their budgets for training their precious human assets, “many career professionals do the same on a personal level.”

The Fix: This will sound unpleasant to many of us, but Dayhoff suggests it may be time to cut back on costly vacations and the purchases of nice cars, instead “reinvesting in your skills, by attending classes, conferences, or retaining a coach.”

Indeed, if you have a personal trainer at the gym but not one for your career, it may be time to rejigger that arrangement. And also remember Dyment’s advice about how much help is available online, which takes time but often no money.

Excuse 4:“The real problem’s my boss”

“I coulda been a contender,” lamented Terry (Marlon Brando), who blamed his brother for derailing his dreams. What excuses might we be making in our own careers? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In “On the Waterfront,” Marlon Brando’s character Terry laments to his brother Charley that Charley’s demand that he take a dive in a major prizefight destroyed Terry’s dreams forever. “You don’t understand,” Brando says. “I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.”

Many of us feel like victims of the bad leadership of others, in our families or communities our workplaces. But do we need to be victims of others?

The Fix: “There’s certainly much truth to the idea that a great boss or team can make or break your career,” Dayhoff says. “But always remember you are making a choice where you work.” He suggests that sometimes we must make the best of a situation, but other times we must get out of it. “Staying out of a misapplied winners-never-quit ethic only wastes your best talents on an environment where you will never achieve your potential,” he says. “And whether you leave or stay, blaming others is always a dead-end strategy.”

And remember the words of Lao Tzu, as translated by Stephen Mitchell: “Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame.”

Excuse 5: “I’m not going to change” or “I don’t need to change”

Change or die. Dyment says that one of the most deadly career excuses is to be in denial about a “tectonic shift” in one’s industry or job position. “The marketplace is moving so fast these days,” he says, “that principles, practices and services that have been in high demand for decades can suddenly become obsolete.” This has been true for at least a half century, but most of us are still not ready for this reality.

The Fix: “Read and listen voraciously,” Dyment says. “Attend thought leader conferences. Join a mastermind group so that you will not be the last to know when changes that can significantly affect your livelihood are on the horizon.

Regarding that last point, I’ll soon take a deeper look at mastermind groups and their potential to boost a career.

[Please share your own insights and experiences with our Forbes.com community in the comments section. And hit "Follow" at the top of the page to receive notification of more career and management advice from Rob Asghar.]

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